Many of us have seen films containing remarkably realistic dinosaurs, aliens, animated toys and other fanciful creatures. Such animations are made possible by computer graphics. Using such techniques, a computer graphics artist can specify how each object should look and how it should change in appearance over time, and a computer then models the objects and displays them on a display such as your television or a computer screen. The computer takes care of performing the many tasks required to make sure that each part of the displayed image is colored and shaped just right based on the position and orientation of each object in a scene, the direction in which light seems to strike each object, the surface texture of each object, and other factors.
Because computer graphics generation is complex, computer-generated three-dimensional graphics just a few years ago were mostly limited to expensive specialized flight simulators, high-end graphics workstations and supercomputers. The public saw some of the images generated by these computer systems in movies and expensive television advertisements, but most of us couldn't actually interact with the computers doing the graphics generation. All this has changed with the availability of relatively inexpensive 3D graphics systems such as, for example, the Nintendo 64® and various 3D graphics cards now available for personal computers. It is now possible to interact with exciting 3D animations and simulations on relatively inexpensive computer graphics systems in your home or office.
A problem graphics system designers confronted in the past was how to efficiently couple system components together. A modern 3D graphics system is relatively complex, and requires a number of different connections between different aspects of the system. For example, it is often necessary to interface with a mass storage device such as an optical disk. In addition, in an interactive real time system such as a gaming system, some means must be provided to interface with user-manipulable controls such as hand-held controllers or the like. Sound is typically required, so that interfaces with various sound-producing and sound-supporting components are required. It is also necessary to provide some interfacing means for interfacing the system with a display device of an appropriate configuration. Additionally, it is often desirable to interface the system with a number of other components such as, for example, read only memory, flash memory, various memory cards, modems or other network connections, and debugging facilities for game or other application development. Various solutions to this problem were offered.
One approach would be to use standardized interfaces. Computer equipment manufacturers have developed a number of standardized interfaces in the past to connect with mass storage devices, modems, and other peripheral devices. Using standardized interfaces tends to simplify design efforts and achieve component compatibility and interoperability. The typical personal computer has a number of standardized interfaces so it can be modular and compatible with hardware and peripheral devices designed by a number of different manufacturers. Designing a new personal computer does not require redesign of all of these interfaces.
While the standardized interface approach has certain advantages in the arena of general purpose computing, it may not be suitable for home video game systems. Because a home video game system must be manufactured at low cost and yet achieve maximum performance, it is desirable to optimize each and every aspect of the system —including the system interfaces. The interfaces can be looked at as the highways over which information flows throughout the system. This information traffic should flow as rapidly and efficiently as possible. Using standard interfaces may be easier from a design standpoint, but a standardized interface may not provide the high performance that a customized interface might offer. “One size fits all” makes things easier, but doesn't always result in the best possible fit.
Another issue relates to hardware interoperability. Standardized interfaces provide the advantage that everyone can design components that are compatible with them. For example, when you buy a personal computer having a standardized serial interface, parallel interface and expansion device interface, you know that you can go out and purchase any of a variety of different devices all of which will be compatible with those standardized interfaces. You can plug in any of a dozen different types of printers to either the serial or the parallel interface of your personal computer, and they will all work. Similarly, any of dozens of different modems or other network cards can be plugged into the PCMCIA card slot of a personal computer or laptop, and all of these different cards will work.
Open standards have the advantage that they achieve hardware interoperability between systems and a wide range of different accessories. This approach is helpful when the system manufacturer is selling a general purpose device that can be used for virtually any application, but makes less sense in the home video game arena where a given video game manufacturer is responsible for making or licensing all of the various special-purpose accessories for its brand of home video game system.
For example, video game manufacturers in the past have expended substantial time, effort and resources to develop definitive new home video game systems. They want to sell as many of these as possible, and therefore price them very competitively. Like the razor manufacturer who recoups his investment by selling razor blades as opposed to the razor itself, video game system manufacturers rely on controlling access to the installed user base of home video game systems to achieve profits through licensing. If the home video game system used open standards, then competing manufacturers could bypass the company that invested all the time, effort and resources to develop the system to begin with, and could instead market directly to consumers. Accordingly, under this business model, it is important for the system manufacturer to be able to control access to the system.
One technique used successfully in the past to control access to home video game systems was to incorporate security systems that control access to the system. A security system can enable the system to accept or reject things plugged into it. As one example, it is possible to include an integrated circuit chip authentication type device in home video game cartridges. Before the home video game system interoperates with the cartridge or other peripheral device, it may first authenticate the cartridge or other peripheral device by use of the security chip. While this approach can be highly successful, it requires each peripheral device to include authentication type information and/or devices. This increases cost. In addition, no security system is impenetrable. Given enough time, effort and resources, any security system can be “cracked” to unlock access to the system. Thus, further improvements are desirable.
In addition, video game systems typically compete for space atop or around televisions with other electronic components such as video cassette recorders, DVD players, set-top boxes for cable and satellite systems and the like. This “competition” can be exacerbated if peripheral devices are to be added on to the video game system. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a video game system that provides a relatively small footprint even when peripheral devices are added to the system.
The present application describes a home video game system having at least one surface provided with one or more recesses therein. The video game system also has a connector within the recess for connecting peripheral devices inserted in the recess to the game processing circuitry. The peripheral device includes an electrical component, an electrical connector coupled to the electrical component for connecting to a connector of the home video game system, and a housing. The housing of the peripheral device is configured so that when the peripheral device is inserted in the recess of the home video game system, it is substantially flush with the external surface of the home video game system. In this way, the footprint of the video game system can remain the same, even if peripheral devices are added. In addition, because the shapes of the peripheral devices are non-standard and unusual, they provide uniqueness that can be used as a basis for excluding unlicensed and unauthorized people from manufacturing components that are compatible with the video game system. This allows a home video game system developer to protect its substantial investment in the development of the system.